1. Field
This application relates to a method and a device for programming a cordless medical or dental handpiece for root canal treatment.
2. Description of Prior Art
Conventional cordless devices for root canal treatment have at least one cordless handpiece and a charger. The cordless handpiece is equipped with a drive motor and a battery for supplying power to the motor, in addition to a tool holder for a treatment tool. A measurement circuit for measuring the root canal length and/or the load applied to the tool is preferably also provided in the handpiece. In measuring the root canal length, the treatment tool retained in a tool holder is used as an electrode and is electrically connected to the root canal length measuring circuit via a contact piece provided in the head of the handpiece or externally on the handpiece. If the control arrangement of the measurement circuit indicates that the tool has reached a target position in a root canal or that a predefined torque has been exceeded, it automatically stops the tool or automatically rotates it in the opposite direction. Because of the anatomy of the root canal to be treated, a plurality of different tools, in particular files of different diameters and tool properties, e.g., breaking strengths, must be used to prepare a root canal. These tools thus differ significantly with regard to their parameters to be set, e.g., the maximum allowed rotational speed or torque.
Such a medical or dental device, and the method for adjusting the cordless handpiece with the parameters of the treatment tool for root canal treatment are known from DE 19520765 B4.
The device for root canal treatment known from the prior art having at least one cordless handpiece and one charger has a plurality of adjusting elements for adjusting the handpiece to the respective parameters of the tool being used. The different adjusting elements, in particular for adjusting the rotational speed, the maximum allowed torque and the autofunction parameters, e.g., autostop or autoreverse, may be provided on both the cordless handpiece and the charger. The user may thus adjust his handpiece to the parameters of the tool being used by means of the plurality of adjusting elements.
One disadvantage of this prior art approach has proven to be the manual adjustment of the individual tool and handpiece parameters by means of the plurality of adjusting elements on the handpiece or on the charger.
Operation of the cordless device for root canal treatment is complex and time-consuming due to the numerous tool parameters, e.g., the maximum rotational speed, the maximum torque or the numerous handpiece parameters, e.g., the autofunction parameters (such as autostop or autoreverse, in which the tool automatically rotates in the opposite direction or stops when the tool has reached a certain position in the root canal or when a certain load is applied to the tool). Due to the number of parameters, each time a tool is changed, the user must adjust the handpiece to comply with the new tool and handpiece parameters. To do so, the user must operate the numerous adjusting elements on the handpiece and/or on the charger.
In addition, the device known in the prior art for root canal treatment entails the risk of possible error sources. Due to the numerous parameters to be adjusted, there is the risk that the user might set possible values incorrectly, resulting in complications in treatment of the root canal, e.g., breakage of the file in the root canal because the torque limits for the tool being used are set too high.